Freeware solution to sync your Mac with a Windows Mobile device

Filed under: Utilities, Macintosh, Windows Mobile, Office, Productivity, Freeware

Freeware solution to sync your Mac with a Windows Mobile device

by Christina Warren Nov 23rd 2007

ne of the more frustrating aspects of being a Mac owner is trying to sync with a Windows Mobile device (shockingly, not all Mac owners have - or even want - an iPhone, some of us like our Smartphones). It's definitely possible, either through virtualization or using a third-party product like Missing Sync or PocketMac, but freeware options have been nonexistent. Until now. Eltima Software has just released SyncMate 1.0 beta, a program designed to connect Tiger OR Leopard Macs with Windows Mobile 5 or 6 devices.

According to their website, SyncMate can:

Install applications to your mobile phone
Synchronize Favorites, Contacts, Calendar and Notes with their analogs Bookmarks, Address Book, iCal and Stickies accordingly
Get information about the device (OS, memory status, alarms, battery state, etc.), view memory status diagram
Manage SMS (Inbox and Outbox, drafts, sent and deleted messages)
SyncMate includes a built-in converter to compress video to MPEG 4 and the ability to resize image while copying

And it's free. We like free. The program is still in beta, but its feature set is very, very promising. SyncMate also claims Leopard compatibility - and to us, that's almost as exciting as the price. Missing Sync's Leopard compatibile version is still in beta (available through their website) and PocketMac doesn't have a Leopard solution available (they are working on it).

Maybe it's just us, but if we're going to use a beta product anyway, we'd prefer to use something that's free instead of something that is $39.95. If you already have a Missing Sync license - trying out their Leopard compatible beta certainly makes sense - but for first time buyers, we say give SyncMate a shot.

Tags: leopard, smartphone, syncmate, windows mobile mac, WindowsMobileMac

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Robert said 6:08PM on 11-23-2007

Has anyone been able to get this to run under 10.5.1? The help says to apply new network settings but I don't see any network setting changes, nor am I able to connect.

I'd like to give this a try if I could only get it to work.

Caledan said 6:02PM on 12-01-2007

I have it installed a new MacBook Pro OS X 10.5.1, 2.4 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo. Trying to sync mt HTC Mugol 6800, SyncMate just won't let me create a new Profile so I can choose it. Looks good and sounds good.

dylan said 3:25AM on 11-24-2007

Very cool find. MissingSync is not the greatest program to use. And it costs money obviously, so I'm very excited to use this program to sync my motorola Q and Mac.

bikeham said 7:41AM on 11-24-2007

Am not sure where the idea started that it is compatible with Leopard. According to their website, they spruik that it is for 10.4 and above. It doesn't work for me and my humble Axim X30 under Leopard - as much as I'd like to give Missing Sync a miss.

Christina Warren said 9:39AM on 11-24-2007

Leopard is mentioned on the product page (not the blog entry) for SyncMate, as, and I'm totally just pasting this from their site:

Platforms "SyncMate" is compatible with:
Mac OS X 10.4 and higher
Mac OS X 10.5

I'm out of town and don't have my Windows Mobile device with me (just my regular cell phone), so I haven't been able to test it yet, but it does appear that at the very least, 10.5.1 has compatibility issues. The fact that it was just released and the fact that it's in beta make me hopeful, however, that a solution will work out.

Until then, the one surefire solution to connecting a Windows Mobile device with Leopard is to use VMWare Fusion in conjunction with XP or Vista and then just use Active Sync 4.5. But that's a pain -- and that's not free.

z said 10:29AM on 11-26-2007

missing sync is absolutely wonderful. works solid like a rock.

and i dont see why everyone is so excited about software (or anything for that matter) being free.

what i do like, however, is that this new product is creating competition. or at least it has a chance. now _that_ is definitely a good thing.

i wish best of luck to the developers of syncmate and will be looking forward to a chance to try it out, compare to the missing sync of which i do own a copy.

D.Witt said 7:48PM on 11-27-2007

Robert, I got the same error msg.

fwiw, i'm running 10.4.11

jk said 7:17PM on 12-22-2007

i can't sync my brand new treo 500 and my windows mobile 6. when I tried to connect it did even showed up :

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